112: The ticket to chaos

"Welcome to Tartarus, the trash can of the universe and a treasure trove for all. Have a... pleasant stay, heh."

In the public channel, a hoarse female voice finished reading the insincere welcome message before being immediately drowned out by curses in hundreds of languages, advertisements, and unintelligible roars.

The "wanderer" drifted into this chaotic steel jungle like a falling leaf.

The sight before them made Reno and Lao Mo hold their breath. This wasn't a port at all, but a giant steel monster haphazardly welded together from countless shipwrecks, meteorites, and abandoned space station modules. Broken neon lights flickered on the rusted hulls, and small-scale explosions lit up in the distance from time to time before quickly extinguishing, like the beast's breath.

"Prepare to dock, switching to manual mode." Chen Feng's voice pulled the two back from their shock.

Following Raven's intelligence, they cautiously steered the ship toward a relatively "official" customs berth. As they approached, a patrol boat painted with "Port Affairs" arrogantly blocked their path.

A Port Official in a filthy uniform, with eight slimy, writhing octopus tentacles connected beneath his head, lazily leaned out of the patrol boat.

"Newcomers?" His voice came through the translator, carrying a condescending annoyance. "Environmental adaptation tax, one thousand credits. Docking purification fee, two thousand. Also, looking at your junk ship, you need to pay a 'potential pollution risk deposit' of five thousand."

"Officer," Chen Feng's voice sounded through the external speakers, calm and polite. "We are from the 'Stardust Scavengers' Chamber of Commerce. Just passing through to refuel and leave."

"Do I care what chamber of commerce you're from?" The Port Official impatiently tapped the ship's side with a tentacle. "Here, I am the rule. Either pay up or get out and spend the rest of your life as stardust in the void."

Reno's expression instantly darkened, his hand at his waist already gripping his newly issued dagger.

"Stay calm." Chen Feng stopped him via internal comms. Soon after, a bribe totaling eight hundred credits was quietly transferred to the other party's personal account.

The terminal on the Port Official's wrist vibrated slightly. He glanced down, and the impatient expression on his face softened considerably. He waved a tentacle dismissively.

"Fine, I see it's not easy for you. I'll waive the purification fee and deposit. Hurry up and find a berth to dock, don't block the way."

"Thank you, officer," Chen Feng responded politely.

The ship slowly pulled into the berth. When the three of them first stepped onto the solid deck of the Free Port, a bizarre smell—a mix of engine oil, ozone, grilled meat, and some kind of fermented bodily fluids—hit them along with the scorching air.

Reno's muscles were tense, his hand never leaving the weapon at his waist.

Chen Feng, however, appeared relaxed. Like a first-time tourist, he looked around with great interest. The place was filled with strange races: a winged merchant bargaining with a creature dripping with lava, while several robot Guards hurried past escorting a captive in an energy cage.

"Boss, where are we going now?" Lao Mo asked in a low voice.

"To pay tuition." Chen Feng smiled slightly, leading the two into a shady-looking shop with a sign that read "Rust Bar."

As soon as they sat down, a fellow with a bird-like head wearing a flashy vest approached them.

"Hey, new faces?" He blinked his beady eyes slickly. "Looking for information? In Tartarus, there are no secrets that 'Know-It-All' doesn't know."

Chen Feng calmly pushed over a hundred credits. "I want to know what the Alliance's 'Higher Academy' has been up to lately."

"Higher Academy?" The bird-man's eyes lit up. He quickly pocketed the credits and lowered his voice, saying mysteriously, "You've asked the right person! I'm telling you, you've come at the perfect time! Something big happened at the Academy recently. An important 'research subject' went berserk. Their internal affairs are a mess right now, and their defenses are less than half as strong as usual!"

He looked around, then leaned in closer. "I even have the contact information for an insider who can help. For just five hundred credits, I can guarantee you'll get first-hand intelligence."

Chen Feng paid the five hundred credits without hesitation.

After obtaining the encrypted contact info and the meeting point in "Dripping Alley," the three left the bar.

"Boss, that's obviously a trap," Reno said immediately upon leaving the bar. "I can smell the stench of lies on him."

"I know." Chen Feng's expression remained calm. "But we have to go."

"Why?"

"Spending six hundred credits to personally step into the first trap of this port and figure out their scamming patterns and their level of firepower for backstabbing... this tuition is well worth it," Chen Feng said flatly.

An hour later, in the filthy, foul-smelling Dripping Alley, the so-called "insider" never showed up.

Instead, seven or eight mercenaries with various weapons and unfriendly gazes silently blocked both ends of the alley.

"Hey, new sheep," a Lizardman at the head sneered. "Heard you were asking about the Academy? Why not hand over all your money, and we'll tell you an even bigger secret, how about that?"

As they approached with sneers, Reno looked at Chen Feng, who merely gave a signal with his eyes.

Reno immediately understood and activated an inconspicuous metal buckle on his belt.

"Buzz—"

A wave of infrasound, inaudible to the human ear, instantly swept through the entire alley.

The sneers on the mercenaries' faces froze instantly, replaced by expressions of extreme agony. They clutched their heads and doubled over. Intense nausea and dizziness made them unable to even hold their weapons steady, and their formation fell into chaos.

Chen Feng, Reno, and Lao Mo took the opportunity to turn around unhurriedly and easily escaped through a maintenance tunnel leading to the Lower District that they had already scouted.

Back on the bridge of the "wanderer," Chen Feng didn't even bother to clean the stains off himself. He opened the exchange system, entered Tartarus's local network, and found an anonymous section called "Blacklist Bounties."

He skillfully submitted the bird-man "Know-It-All's" ID, the video recording of the fraud, and the six hundred credits he was cheated out of as evidence. In the bounty column, he added a small bounty of just fifty credits.

Only after finishing all this did he turn to the equally disheveled Reno and Lao Mo, a cold smile appearing on his face.

"Alright, warm-up's over."

"Now, let's go see someone who can actually get things done."